State of the Union - By the Numbers

In his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush will hail the state of the union as "strong", pointing to the growing economy, new jobs, and record home ownership. But for Americans worrying about how to make ends meet around their kitchen tables at night, the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Just look at the numbers, and how Bush's rhetoric has failed to match reality throughout his presidency...

2005 State of the Union: We'll make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.

2004 State of the Union: I propose larger Pell grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school.

Healthcare

The Reality

Americans without health insurance, 2000: 38.2 million2

Americans without health insurance, 2005: 46.6 million3

Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2000: $135

Average monthly worker contribution for family coverage, 2006: $2484

Percentage of annual bankruptcies due to medical bills: 55%5

Bush's Rhetoric

2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.

2005 State of the Union: we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage

2004 State of the Union: To make insurance more affordable, Congress must act to address rapidly rising health care costs.

2003 State of the Union: Our second goal is high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

2001 State of the Union: Many working Americans do not have health care coverage, so we will help them buy their own insurance with refundable tax credits.

Energy

The Reality

Average price of home heating oil on January 3, 2000: $1.15/gallon

Average price of home heating oil on January 1, 2007: $2.42/gallon6

Increase in average price since January 2000, percent: 110%

Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 3, 2000: $1.31

Average price of a gallon of gasoline on January 1, 2007: $2.387

Increase in the average price since January 2000, percentage: 82%

ExxonMobil profits in 2000: $7.9 billion8

ExxonMobil profits in 2006: $36.1 billion9

ExxonMobil's profit during the second quarter of 2006, per second: $1,31810

2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology.

2005 State of the Union: To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy

2004 State of the Union: Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run -- so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

2003 State of the Union: Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment

2002 State of the Union: Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil.

2001 State of the Union: We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation, and we must. America must become more energy-independent, and we will.

US Federal Discretionary Budget spent on Military not including Iraq, in 2006, percentage: 48.7%

Amount spent on Education, percentage: 6.7%22

Bush's Rhetoric

2006 State of the Union: Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning.

2006 State of the Union: As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels -- but those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.

2005 State of the Union: As those [Iraqi] forces become more self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities, America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a supporting role.

2004 State of the Union: Month by month, Iraqis are assuming more responsibility for their own security and their own future.

2004 State of the Union: Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations

2003 State of the Union: The British government has learned that Saddam

2003 State of the Union: [Saddam Hussein] clearly has much to hide.

2003 State of the Union: Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction.

Debts and Deficits Climbing

The Reality

US Trade Deficit, October 2000, monthly: $33.8 billion

US Trade Deficit in October 2006, monthly: $58.9 billion23

US Current Account Deficit, FY 2000: $435.4 billion24

US Current Account Deficit, FY 2006: $900 billion25

Loss of value of U.S. dollar relative to the Euro, January 24, 2000-January 23, 2006, percentage: 23%

As you are aware, this week the Florida House, Florida Senate and Governor are convening together in a Special Session to address the crisis we are currently all suffering from. Attached is an update that I have prepared. Please let me know your thoughts and I would truly appreciate it if you could forward the update to your email lists.

CREW is unveiling a revolutionary new tool that gives anyone with an internet connection the power to investigate the federal government. It's the CREW Open Community Document Review System, and we're giving you the first chance to use it.

As a part of our ongoing efforts to expose government corruption and clean up Washington, CREW makes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documents and information from the federal government. In response to our FOIA requests we receive thousands of documents ranging from memos to emails to personal handwritten notes. Just last week, we posted dozens of documents from the White House's Council on Environmental Quality relating to climate change. We also have several pending FOIA requests with the Secret Service for White House visitor records from folks such as of Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist, and Ralph Reed.

Starting today, you can help us review documents CREW receives from the government, and root out instances of illegal and unethical behavior. You can browse our collection of documents, send links to individual document pages to your friends, conduct searches of our document collection to find that needle in the haystack and more. By using the combined power of thousands of individual activists working together to review documents we can quickly tag and sort tens of thousands of pages, discover new information and make it all searchable for you, your friends and other activists.

In the past, when CREW received boxes of documents in response to its FOIA requests, the only way we were able share them with the public was by posting huge PDF files on our website. Now, with CREW's new document review system, not only can you help us search and tag these documents, but every page of every document will have its own unique URL so that you can link to a particular page from your blog, forward interesting nuggets that you find to your friends, or share pages on sites like Digg and Reddit. As an example, take a look at this note from Julie Finley, a major conservative fundraiser, to Gale Norton when she was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior.

We are very excited about this new system and already we have plans to add new features and tools. We need your help today, not only to review documents, but to test the tool. What works? What doesn't work? What do you like? We look forward to getting your input. If you find a problem that needs fixing, or if you've got a great idea for future features, post a comment on our development blog.

Thurman in Cyberspace

The Florida Democratic Party is planning to air regular podcasts with Chairwoman Karen Thurman and other party leaders on its website. The feature begins today with Thurman talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Watch it here.

Fasten your seat belts. President Bush is going to announce his new "strategerie" for Iraq next week. A surge. A surge right over the cliff.

Mr. President, it's over. You've lost control. Here are the facts that matter: 80% of Iraqis want us to leave; over 40% of Iraqis are now unemployed; no place is safe or normal due to insurgency and civil war  women can not even give birth safely, due to the total breakdown of a once excellent healthcare system (WPost 1/4/2007).

It is over. The world knows it, America knows it, your own military knows it (only 35% believe in your policy). Shifting generals and overruling your advisors is moving the deck chairs on the titanic. Hardly anything is going right, even Saddam's execution was a disaster you couldn't control, Mr. President.

The Iraqis are going to take their country back in whatever form, regardless of what we do, however we do it, whenever we do it.

Don't delay the inevitable Mr. President. Vietnam taught us that lesson. It took 7 years and over 35,000 more deaths after 1968 when the handwriting was on the wall. Vietnamization. Pacification. Search and Destroy. Winning the Hearts and Minds. None of it worked.

This is no longer a military battle, a war, it's a political battle. We are not the surge protectors. We are not the NYPD.

It is time, Mr. President, to adapt the late Senator George Aiken's strategy for Vietnam: declare victory and get out.

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Ron Mills

Ron@RonMills.us

About Me

I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal. This site is for Liberals and progressives news and commentary.- Ron Mills 954-394-4980 Ron@RonMills.us